Free «My Family and Country Influence on My American Experience» Essay Sample

Race/Ethnicity Analysis

Family is a group of people connected by blood, love, and soul where all members support and care about each other. You can pick up friends, but you can never choose a family. Therefore, people should appreciate families they have despite all conflicts that can emerge from time to time. In this essay, I will talk a little bit about my family and its connection to Angolan society.

My family is an average one like many other families that do not have a deep history.

My grandmother is black, but my grandfather is white; that is why my mother is white. I am black, because my father is black, and his genes predominated over my mother's genes. My mother comes from Cabo Verde. My father cames from Sumbe (Angolan Province) s well as his parents. My father and mother do not have any brothers or sisters. The reason is that their parents were not allowed to have a big family according to the fact that they did not study enough being able to finish only elementary school.

Within the whole family, I am the only one studying in the United States. Even though I am not the best student in the college, I am the gold of my family. We all speak the same language, because the majority of family members grew up in Luanda (the capital of Angola) where people are obligated to speak Portuguese. I have a small family with two sisters and aunts with the same skin color and cultural habits. They work and spend much time together to help to each other. I am always glad to meet them. Even though we have some disagreements, we are connected. The best thing that keeps us together is love to each another.

Race/ethnicity can be defined as the state of an individual belonging to a certain social group with which this individual shares common cultural or national traditions. In my home country, the majority of people are African, in particular, the Bantu origin. As for me, my race is African due to my skin colour and the language I speak. Besides, I associate myself with African cultural tradition that seems to be incredible for me as well as attractive for many foreigners.

During my stay in the United States, I have noticed differences in ethnicity issues. Here, there are many families of various races such as African-Americans, Hispanics, Asians, Europeans, Indians and Native Hawaiian. There is no such multiculturalism in Angola.

Social Class Analysis

Social classes are usually determined by levels of education, occupation, attitudes, levels of income, and individual status in the society. In Angola, I belong to the low class due to low level of income and the occupation of my parents. Social classes are quite flexible, because people can move from one class to another if they get payable jobs and increase their average level of income.

The situation with social classes in the United States is quite different. To start with, there are three main social classes including rich people, people with a middle income, and those who have low income. The majority of the people belong to the middle class. All social classes of the U.S have access to basic amenities and basic needs unlike in my home country. The only difference between Angola and the U.S. is that the rich people usually have access to luxuries, whereas the low-income class does not have such a privilege.

Gender and Sexuality Analysis

In Angola, gender and sexuality are usually associated with certain roles and opportunities. In my family, women usually perform the role of looking after children while men are supposed to provide money for their families. Unfortunately, women usually do not have access to economic resources and even education in a number of communities. In the United States, both women and men usually perform the same roles and can easily exchange their family duties. For example, men can look after children while women earn money. Both genders have equal opportunities and access to resources, unlike in my family. This fact proves that there are still many things that should be developed in Angola as well as in the whole Africa.